


My Snow(wo)man and Me

by EphemeralSpring



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Childhood Friends, Christmas, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:54:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28454928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EphemeralSpring/pseuds/EphemeralSpring
Summary: Once a year when most find themselves celebrating Christmas with their loved ones, the rules of time and space are bent. A portal opens, and two souls of different times build a home in each other's comfort.
Relationships: Myoui Mina/Yoo Jeongyeon
Comments: 8
Kudos: 39





	1. Ray

**Author's Note:**

> I thought of a Christmas themed JeongMi fic all thanks to that <2 second audio clip of Mina singing Sia's Snowman. (Mina melody project when?) The whole idea is to turn this into a one-shot, and well...it's kinda like finding out I was pregnant with a singular baby, but turns out...I was pregnant with more than a triplet. ...As a comparison. I'm not pregnant. Anyway. I hope you enjoy.

**1905, Torana**

“Promise it will protect me?” An unease voice rose above the silence as its source observed the pair of hands smoothing out the figure in front of them.

“Mrs. Snowman will keep you safe. Cross my heart.” The taller girl reinforces her promise to the much younger girl by gesturing a cross over her chest and a wide confident gummy smile on her face.

The younger girl returns the smile with her own gummy smile albeit more bashly. She reaches out and fiddles with the ends of the much older girl’s scarf that was dangling down to her height before asking, “Be back home soon, okay?”

“I will. And you...” She fixes the worn out beanie resting on top of the little girl’s raven head and coat on top of layers of clothes insulating her petite frame from the cold winter air. “Behave, alright? I better see everything in one piece when I come back...especially you.”

The bashful demeanor of the girl immediately shifts into a feisty spirit as she stomps her little feet on the snow-covered ground as she tries to make herself appear bigger than she really was. She takes a big breath of air before huffing out with her arms folded. “Of course, I’ll be good. What do you think of me, Nayeon-unnie? I’m already eight-years-old. That’s just like your age but 10 years and one much younger and cuter.”

“Why you…” The older girl named Nayeon mocks a look of pure offense. “Mina-yah, since when did you learn to be so rude?”

“None of your business.” Mina relentlessly continues her act trying to get a reaction out of Nayeon.

“Unbelievable. Fine, I’ll let you have this one since it’s Christmas, and I’m the world’s best sister.” She rose back to her height accompanied with a flip of her hair and began to walk towards the wooden gate separating her from her horse, Kookeu, who was attached to a carriage she was going to board on. “Anyway, it’s almost noon. I have to go now before my employer starts turning the whole store upside down looking for me to take his place. You know how he can be. I just don’t understand why he has to open the store on Chri-”

“Unnie!” Mina cuts her sister’s rants off, effectively stopping Nayeon in her tracks and making turn back around to face her again.

“What is it?”

“I love you.” Mina runs and throws herself into the arms of Nayeon giving her the tightest hug that spoke a thousand words.

And Nayeon understood everything.

Hidden from the view of her little sister, Nayeon’s face quietly breaks down. She returns the hug and embraces Mina even tighter. “I know. ...I love you, too, always.”

* * *

Nayeon and Mina were the closest sisters and both were almost so physically alike that most people never thought otherwise. To Mina, Nayeon had always been there with her since she could remember; Nayeon was ten when the younger girl was found at the doorstep of the orphanage.

It was not until almost two years later when a couple who meant to adopt only a child was immediately smitten by Nayeon and Mina. They couldn’t bear separating the two from each other, and so decided to simply raise both of them into their family. They were not exactly one of the bourgeois who can give all the luxuries in the world in fairytale books, but they knew they could provide comfortably enough of what the girls needed and a whole lot of love. And they did, until they didn’t…

The country of Torana was not always a peaceful country, it still is not. Peace was only disguised by the lavish luxuries the privileged flaunt in the city streets to feign their strength among other powerful nations, while everyone less was tucked into the outskirts of the cities–much like the couple who adopted Nayeon and Mina live in the countryside–as if they were unwanted when they were in fact the driving workforce that runs the economy of the country. The rich had always gotten their way whether it was for the benefit of everyone or for their own selfish reasons, the latter being the most common motive which eventually led to the death of Nayeon and Mina’s adoptive parents.

It had only been three months since men in uniforms came knocking on their doors one evening and demanded for their father to sell some more of their employers’ smuggled contrabands.

Nayeon and Mina were just on their way back to their homes from playing outside when they heard a gunshot followed by a chilling shriek and one final gunshot before deafening silence filled the winter air. Despite the shock, Nayeon was quick-witted and hid both of them behind the nearest boulder. Not more than a minute later, two men came out with their rifles hanging on their shoulders.

“What are we going to tell him?!” The shortest of the men asked.

“We’ll just find another pathetic man who can do the job for us. He’s just another guy who thought his morals could keep him alive. There are more men out there who are smarter than him.” The other man casually explains as he mounts the saddle of his horse.

The older girl overhears as she waits for them to ride away and to completely disappear from view before taking Mina into her arms and to protect and to hide her from the horrors that awaits them as she dashed straight back home. Everything feels like forever to both of them.

* * *

The past three months had not been the easiest for both sisters. Both felt like they had to quickly grow up and learn the ropes around trying to keep each other alive. Especially Nayeon, who had just turned 18 since the horrific incident, felt like she had to learn everything she thought she would have years to learn from their parents now on her own. The only two things the older of the two could be thankful for are one, she was already considered an adult when it all happened, meaning she has custody of her the eight-year-old and could be there to comfort Mina in whatever way she needs knowing of how traumatizing the event could be for the younger girl; and two, the cobbling skills she had learned from her late father, which enabled her to get a job at a shoe store downtown to keep both of them fed and alive. 

Already more skilled than the other men trying to apply for the job, Nayeon’s beauty especially came in handy against other applicants. She knows that she could do better than just assisting at the shoe store and being the pretty face that attracts potential customers into the shop. She wishes that she could reclaim the shoe business their father ran. With Mina in mind, Nayeon thought this was the safest option if she was to make sure that the men who murdered her parents will not come after her if ever word gets out that she was associated with her father and was in the same trade in case of some unfinished business.

And so, there was Mina left all alone at their humble wooden abode trying to let time pass by playing with her bears, particularly her favorite button-eyed bear named Tim who had its tongue perpetually sticking out. Every now and then, she would check on the snowman she and her sister Nayeon had built right front of the gaping hole situated right beside their house.

Despite having the wildest imagination, Mina was smart and knew that the gaping hole was barely an entrance to a tunnel as it only went as far as only three meters long from the opening. She was not afraid of what might come out of it but of what might hide inside it when she’s not looking. It was never something that Mina had an issue with until the day before when a raccoon jumped at her from the hole when she went out to play in the snow. From that, thoughts of even scarier and more dangerous things hiding in it to pounce at her haunted her mind, so Nayeon thought it would be a great idea to spend the morning with her sister building a snowman just big enough to keep the hole blocked.

It had only been an hour since her sister had gone off to work and Mina was quietly watching the falling snow outside from the window with Tim bear in her arms. “Look, there’s Mrs. Snowman. She’s here to prote-”

Her words were cut short when a bright ray of light beamed through the body of the snowman before it exploded and something that emerged from Mrs. Snowman herself came barreling into the pile of snow a few meters across it.

“MRS. SNOWMAN!” She grabs her beanie and rushes outside with Tim in her arms towards the spot where the big blur that came out of the snowman shot out. She whispers, “Tim, we have to check on her.”

The completely whiteout panoramic view of the landscape completely with only the woods and the sisters’ home giving a contrast to the color, paired with the quiescent still air and the cawing of crows in the distant, almost paints a ghastly picture as Mina’s tiny figure leaves small footsteps behind her while carefully treading through the winter air.

She stills to a complete stop when the figure that cannon balled into the snow began to move. A gloved hand trying to grasp at the crumbling snow first peaks out followed by a pair of wiggling legs. Whatever was the subject of Mina’s curiosity makes small noises as it huffs and puffs trying to support itself back on its feet until its pair of feet finally touches down on solid ground.

“My snowman...you’re alive.” Mina loudly whispers in amazement.

“Huh? What snowman?” The figure in the shape of a girl as small as Mina, although a little bit taller, crunches her face in confusion. The girl looks around trying to make sense of what is going on. Her voice rose in panic as she began to regain her bearing and things started to dawn on her. “Where am I?! What happened?!”

“You! My snowman! My snowman who looks just like me!” Mina begins to explain excitedly and begins to point at the spot where Mrs. Snowman previously stood, “You were there and then you exploded!”

The girl holds her head in both her hands messing her medium length black hair in the process. With eyes wide open and her face scrunched in panic, she walks toward the direction Mina was pointing at in hopes that she would find an answer to placate her distressed self. She walks into the gaping hole and begins pressing against the rock wall as if any force she adds to it would somehow make it budge.

Mina follows her and asks, “What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to go home,” the girl helplessly responds, her voice cracking from trying to keep her tears from falling as she slowly realizes that no matter how hard pushes, the wall will not magically swallow and throw her back out to where she was from.

“Home? But you’re Mrs. Snowman.” Mina timidly creeps behind the mysterious girl.

“I’M NOT MRS. SNOWMAN OR SNOWMAN ANYTHING! OKAY! I JUST WANNA GO BACK HOME!” The girl bursts out crying.

Mina steps back a bit after being taken aback by her outburst.

Now, Mina was confused. What does the girl mean by “go home” and why was she trying to break through the wall of rock? She couldn’t have been stuck in the gaping hole when Nayeon and her built the snowman earlier this morning. They made sure that the hole was empty, and she saw with her own eyes that this girl burst out of a perfect good snowman before it was ruined. Her grip on her Tim bear tightens as she tries to figure out what to do herself.

She observes the girl who sat slouched on the ground crying in helplessness. Aside from the sudden outburst a few minutes ago, the girl does not seem to scare her if anything she took pity on her with the girl’s show of vulnerability. Taking note of how Nayeon comforts her whenever she wakes up from one of her nightmares, she carefully closes the few couple of feet from the slouched figure and crouches down to her height and begins consoling her. “There, there. I’m here.”

Mina offers Tim bear for the girl to hold on which shushes the latter momentarily to study Mina with her puffy eyes before gently taking the bear from Mina’s hold as she goes back to crying while trying to let out a “thank you” in between sobs. Mina patiently runs her small hands at the back of the crying in an attempt to give comfort but also out of curiosity to the texture of the girl’s coat–it was all new to her. In fact, the more she studies the girl, the more she realizes how oddly dressed she was with her pants and the coat that has a different texture from what she was familiar with. It took a loud growl from the girl’s stomach to finally slowly shush the girl from crying.

“By...any...chance,” the girl chokes out in between breaths while slowly turning to face Mina, “do you have...any food with you?”

Her own bright doe eyes, as compared to the other whose pair was already red and puffy, widened in shock by the girl’s question and how quickly it took for her to calm down with just a growl from her stomach. She holds back a chuckle and clears her throat before answering, “...I have some melonpan my unnie made for me at home.”

The girl nodded her head and slowly stood up from the ground with the help of Mina. The girl was taller than her by a few centimeters. With the right hand of the girl holding on to Tim, Mina holds the free hand and guides her out from the hole and to her home. “What’s your name?”

“Jeongyeonnie,” the girls struggles to let out from the hiccups that followed after calming down, “my name is Jeongyeon.”

“Jeongyeonnie,” Mina repeats after her and chuckles which made the girl named Jeongyeon bashfully laugh after hearing another person address her in such a way. Mina gives Jeongyeon’s hand a squeeze instead of shaking it as she introduces herself. “I’m Mina.”

* * *

Both Mina and Jeongyeon sat by the open door as they both munch over the melonpan Nayeon had made for Mina in case she gets hungry after their meal they had together before she left for work. They sat comfortably admiring the vast expanse of snow without getting completely cold.

“So you’re not my snowman?” Mina hesitantly asks as she looks at Jeongyeon from the corner of her eyes.

This time, instead of agitated outcry, Jeongyeon replies with a chuckle, “No. I’m just Jeongyeonnie.”

“Oh, are you like me?” Mina asks with her eyes taking in all of Jeongyeon now that they were not out of the hole’s shadows.

Weirded out but amused by Mina’s questions, Jeongyeon turns to face Mina before responding. “Depends. Are you a human like me?”

Mina slowly slowly nods.

“Then, yes, I am like you,” Jeongyeon grins at her with a lopsided smile.

“But what do you mean by ‘go home’?” Mina counters, but Jeongyeon’s smile disappears and is replaced with a frown. Thick silence befalls upon them as the latter goes back to eating her melonpan. Mina figured that she won’t be getting any answer anytime soon, so she, too, focuses her attention on filling her stomach with the bread. Both girls sitting in silence sidebyside at the porch as they finish their own food while watching the snowfall in front of them.

It was not until Jeongyeon finished her own bread did she begin to speak again. “Do you think I’ll be able to go back home again?”

“Huh?” Mina asks, surprised by Jeongyeon’s voice.

“What if...” Jeongyeon pauses as she tries to hold back the tears from falling again. “...What if I can’t go back home to my family again? And...and I never got to say sorry to my mom for being bad?”

“Bad?”

Jeongyeon’s tears begin to fall as she helplessly wipe them away as she explains further. “I made her mad at me... I always wanted to have a cat, and she always tells me that she’ll get me one next time. And...and it’s Christmas, but still...no, cat… So I got upset and then she got mad at me and told me that I can’t have one because of...because of my allergies. But I don’t care! So, I...so I ran away to our gardens.”

Mina’s hand found the back of Jeongyeon and began to rub comforting circles as the other girl tried to explain what happened to her.

“When I got there, there was a brown puppy wandering around, so I kind of just stayed there to play with it.” Jeongyeon’s brown eyes drifted to the hole she spent crying in earlier on and pointed at it, “We have something like that at home, too, in our garden...then it started glowing like the rays of sunshine… I was distracted by it, I didn’t notice the dog I was playing with ran into it. When I got there to bring the dog away from it, everything suddenly started...changing...started disappearing…”

Jeongyeon started to tremble while recounting her surreal experience in the hole. “It was so dark...I was so scared. And then...I saw a light, but it was sucking me towards it. I...I think I was shot out of that hole before I crashed into the pile of snow.”

“There, there. I’m here,” Mina repeats the phrase she had learned from Nayeon. The same phrase she had told Jeongyeon earlier. From her position, Mina awkwardly tries to hug the girl beside her and let her cry her fears into her arms.

Mina’s curious mind wanted to know more about how that exactly happened to Jeongyeon. How could she have appeared in that hole when it was not even a tunnel that could have led somewhere. Did some magical glowing light, the same ray of light that Mina saw moments before the girl blasted through the snowman, responsible for Jeongyeon being here? Mina wanted to ask more but felt that everything she just heard from Jeongyeon was the limits of the girl's knowledge on the subject of her inquisition, and so did not pry further and did whatever she could to make Jeongyeon feel less scared.

* * *

Time flew by after Mina introduced Jeongyeon to her collection of bears and began playing with them. The taller girl had even been acquainted with the bear Mina had lent her earlier and how it was Mina’s favorite.

“Tim reminds me of my own dog back home,” Jeongyeon blurts out in the middle of playing with Mina. She runs her hand through the material of the stuffed bear, before giving it a hug and sighing out, “Nanan. She’s a brown poodle.”

Mina watches Jeongyeon quietly. She can feel how much Jeongyeon misses her dog, afterall, that’s the kind of hug she gives Nayeon whenever she misses her or when she wishes that Nayeon could stay with her instead of going to work. Tim is her favorite bear. She would not let anything happen to him or have him separate from her, but it seems like Jeongyeon needs him more than she does now, and so she offers, “You can have him if you want.”

Jeongyeon removes Tim from her embrace and looks at Mina in disbelief, “But it’s your favorite…

Mina slowly nods her head. “It’s yours if it would make you feel less alone here.”

“Mina, no, I can’t,” Jeongyeon quickly puts the bear back into Mina’s arms. “And I’m not alone. You’re here with me. You’re my friend.”

“Friend?” Mina asks.

“Yep!” Jeongyeon smiles at her. “I mean, aren’t you? You gave me some of that bread your sister had prepared for you just in case you get hungry and have been keeping me company.:

“I-I guess so,” Mina smiles at that thought. She’s not a social pariah or one to struggle socially. In fact, Mina does pretty well making friends. It just gets pretty lonely sometimes at home when they live quite far from where people her age do live.

“Good!” Jeongyeon says with even a bigger lopsided smile. “Besides, I’m not really into stuffed bears. I’m more into Pokemon plushies,” Jeongyeon answers.

“Pokemon plushies?” Mina asks.

“Yeah, like Bulbasaur, Pikachu, Charmander, Eevee, Jigglypuff…” Jeongyeon gets lost enumerating as many as she could until she notices Mina's confused look. “Wow, you really don’t know Pokemon?!”

Mina shakes her head no while bearing a very confused expression.

“Oh my god, I gotta to tell you about them,” Jeongyeon tells her before giving Mina the up-down. “And Mina…”

“Yes, Jeongyeonnie?” Mina asks.

“I hope you don’t find it rude, but...I thought I died a while ago outside.” Jeongyeon hesitantly says.

“Huh? Dead?” Mina was not sure what about Jeongyeon thinking she died earlier would be something she would find rude. A tragic thought, yes? Rude? No.

“Sorry, I mean. I thought I woke up in heaven, because everything was so white except for you and a few other things.” Jeongyeon quickly corrects herself. “And I’ve never seen anyone my age dressed like you. It just seems so...old.”

“What?” Mina looks at what she’s wearing and then turns to Jeongyeon with scrunched eyebrows. ”Everyone at school wears something like this. Your clothes are odd!”

“‘Odd’,” Jeongyeon, surprised by her words, immediately realized what Mina said and looked down on her own clothes for something she did not notice the whole day she was wearing it, “What do you mean? Everyone in 2005 wears this.”

“‘2005’,” Mina chuckles after her, “It’s 1905, silly!”

“What? No, it’s 2005,” Jeongyeon argues her brows scrunching together again.

“It’s 1905!” Mina walks to the kitchen table where a newspaper lays at rest. She takes it to Jeongyeon to support her argument and reads it, “‘25th of December, 1905.’ See!”

Jeongyeon quickly takes the newspaper off her hand and reads the dates. She wishes that it was all just a mean prank but the newspaper was completely crisp and new and did not seem like it was just printed out from a personal printer. She then looks around Mina’s house and tries to take in everything, not that she was not paying attention when she stepped in earlier. It was just that she had thought it was Mina and her family’s choice of aesthetic that could explain why everything seemed so antique, even her new friend’s fashion. Then, did things really begin to dawn on her as if being transported to a different place was not bad enough reality for her.

“Mina…” Jeongyeon drops the newspaper on the ground and runs to hug Mina before releasing a sob on the latter’s shoulder. “I’ll never be able to go home...will I?”

“Jeongyeonnie, what are you-” Mina was cut short by her realization, “Are you saying, that...that you’re from the future?”

Jeongyeon nods against her shoulder.

If somehow a girl teleporting from someplace far away to the yard in front of her eyes still does not make this Christmas the most bizarre one in Mina’s entire existence, then it was now.

* * *

It was less than half an hour before sunset. Though obscured by the layers of clouds hanging above them, the sun setting creates a beautiful painting on the sky by its rays bouncing on different particles handing in the space above.

Mina and Jeongyeon have gone outside after sometime when Jeongyeon finally calmed down.

They went to check on the hole again trying to find a way to get Jeongyeon back to her time and place. Jeongyeon even went as far as chanting something that sounded like “jjirit, jjirit, jjirit” to Mina while the taller girl stood at the center. It was accompanied with a dance that involved only extending the outer fingers and then pointing the thumbs to your head while the pinky pointed up. Mina would have laughed at how adorable the girl in front of her was trying to concentrate if not for the gravity of the situation for Jeongyeon. She holds it back instead and crosses her fingers that it would somehow work.

It didn’t.

Jeongyeon, tired from crying and being upset for almost the entire day, gives up and lies on the snow-covered ground instead, and Mina lies besides her with their heads side by side.

Just as Mina had been doing the entire day, she reassures her that she’ll be here with Jeongyeon throughout this whole ordeal especially since they were friends now, until eventually, their conversation shifted to them sharing little details about each other such as their birthdays and their favorite hobbies while absentmindedly creating snow angels on the snow.

“Mina-yah, where are your parents?”

Silence.

“What’s wrong?” Jeongyeon asked when she felt Mina standing up after a minute a bit too long, she turned her head to look over but was met with a snowball straight to her face.

Mina stood there giggling at the older girl’s appalled expression. “Got you.”

“MINA! Not fair!” Jeongyeon screams out before standing up to join Mina in this war the latter had started.

Now, Mina and Jeongyeon sat quietly watching the sun set into the horizon after their exhausting snowball fight. If not for Jeongyeon’s situation, it would have been the most fun Christmas Jeongyeon had. Mina, too.

“Je-” The sun completely sank down into the horizon when Mina was cut off by the same bright light like rays of sunshine started glowing at the same hole Jeongyeon appeared from, “JEONGYEONNIE!”

Both were quickly on their feet and began running towards the light.

Jeongyeon halts in her steps a few feet away from the hole and calls out to Mina, “MINA-YAH!”

Mina stops and turns around to look at the taller girl, “Mina-yah, what if it doesn't take me back home?”

Jeongyeon’s eyes were glazed with confusion and fear, and Mina understood why. They cannot be completely sure that whatever time and space this new glowing portal is going to be the same one that Jeongyeon belonged to. Mina runs back to Jeongyeon and takes the older girl’s hands and gives it a tight squeeze.

And just like that Jeongyeon worries were laid ease. She releases her hands from Mina’s hold and gives the younger girl the tightest embrace, “Thank you for everything. I’ll find my way back home, Mina.”

For Mina, it also would have been the best Christmas if only her family were there for her to spend it with; but, in a way, Jeongyeon’s unexpected appearance made everything better and an adventure straight from the storybooks she used to read. She could only selfishly wish that her new friend could stay always by her side, but she knew that Jeongyeon has her own family that she wanted to go home to and who was also probably looking for her, too, despite whatever fight they had earlier that day.

“I’ll never forget today,” Mina responds with a hint of sadness. “You can always visit me again, Jeongyeonnie.”

Mina is broken out of her bittersweet stupor by Jeongyeon hugging her tightly, “I will.”

The shorter girl hugs Jeongyeon just as tight.

“See you again, Mina.”

Jeongyeon then waves at Mina one last time before she runs to the glowing bright light.

And just like that, everything was quiet.

The bright sky was no more but a shade of navy blue as the owl from the woods filled the air with the hoots.

* * *

“Mina!” A voice called out.

Mina, still distracted by the space where her new friend had just disappeared to, did not notice her sister arriving home a couple minutes after everything transpired. “Minaaaa!”

“Nayeon-unnie!” Mina screams in surprise.

“Now what exactly are you doing outside? It’s dark out. You know it’s dangerous,” Nayeon tells her off in concern.

“But, Nayeon-unnie, it’s fine. I just saw my friend off!” Mina says as if it was nothing.

“Friend?” Nayeon’s eyes squinted in suspicion and suddenly became protective of Mina. “Have you been talking to strangers? You know I told you not to. Oh, Mina. I’m so sorry. I should have never left you alone at home. I promise I’ll never leave you at home for so long again. You’re still too young.”

In the process of Nayeon’s word vomit of her worries, she had entrapped Mina into a tight hug. Mina smiles at the promise of Nayeon but thought to ease her sister with what really happened. She struggles out of the hug to face Nayeon, and begins to explain excitedly, “Unnie, no! She was harmless. In fact, she’s just my age, and she’s from the future.”

Nayeon was not sure what to do with that information, but she thought it was all just a result of Mina’s imagination after being left alone for a little bit over five hours. She decides to conceal her worries and ride along with Mina for now, “Well, tell me about her later over dinner, because I have a surprise for you...”

“What is it?” Mina’s curiosity gets the best of her as she excitedly tries to look at the huge basket Nayeon had laid on the ground behind her prior to confronting Mina as her sister was reaching for it.

With her own gummy smile that emphasized her two rosy cheeks, Nayeon simply crouches down to her sister’s height and opens the lid of the basket and urges Mina to look into it. “Go on.”

Before Mina even find the chance to fish out whatever Nayeon has in surprise for her, a a head of a puppy pops out, its snout hitting the tip of Mina’s nose making the girl fall flat on her bottom. “Ahhh!”

“Such a scaredy-cat, and I thought you were a grown up now,” Nayeon teases her.

Mina stood up and dusted off her behind and went straight for the basket with the dog completely ignoring her sister’s teasing. She then scoops the dog right into her arms and starts cooing at it.

Nayeon smiles at the sight of her sister happily trying to introduce herself to the puppy. “I found him on my way home a few minutes away from here. Thank God, the sun was still up or else I might have run him over with Kookeu. The puppy seems lost, and I remember you complaining about how lonely you are with no one your age to play with.”

Mina held the puppy in her one arm and began to walk closer to where her sister was to listen better.

“As I said, you wanted someone to play with your age, and you think I’m too old,” Nayeon rolls her eyes at her own use of words, “Anyway, I thought it would be a great idea to take this puppy home for you instead...since you’re both babies and all.”

Mina was too happy to try and be snarky with her sister. Instead, she simply hugged her sister as tightly as she could with one arm and said, “Thank you.”

The last three months may have not been kind to young Mina, but, somehow, she felt that everything will eventually get better little by little.

The night always comes around to haunt her, but just as often as its existence is daylight’s. After the frightening dark comes the rays of sunshine that give hope and strength for a better tomorrow no matter how many times it is lost in darkness. It always finds a way to shine through.

“What are you going to name him?” Nayeon asks.

“Ray. Ray-chan.”


	2. Welcome to Wonderland

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "If this was a dream, then at least I've got  
>  Memories for when morning comes  
>  Now that I must leave with a heavy heart  
>  Oh, Wonderland I love" 
> 
> Jeongyeon thinks she had just dreamed everything up until she was led back to her own wonderland. She visits Mina the second time, and Mina begins to feel an unfamiliar emotion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, I made it. Just before JeongMi day is over.
> 
> I have no words...Update time may take awhile because of my current schedule, but I promise I'll finish this even if no one is reading it.
> 
> Happy JeongMi Day!

**2008, Torana**

“Jeongyeon! Be careful, okay?” Jeongyeon’s mother's advice echoes through the halls of their rustic country mansion. “We better not find you unconscious on the ground again.”

“But, Mom! I was fine!” Jeongyeon whines while she finishes tying her boots. “And that was three years ago!”

“Still, something worse could have happened to you, and it doesn’t matter if it was three years ago or yesterday. Besides, your sister’s coming with you. You have to be a responsible unnie and be extra careful.” As if on cue, sounds of little footsteps thumping against the hardwood floor reverberates around the corner of the hall leading to the foyer.

“I know, I know.” Jeongyeon stands up and turns around to face her fast approaching sister in contrast to their mother who was slowly following behind. She places her hands on her hips and beams, “Do you like that Unnie will be playing with you today?”

“I like it,” her younger sister softly but proudly responded and began singing a song that she was reminded of with what she answered Jeongyeon to herself as she wears her own pair of boots.

“Chaeyoung-ah, don’t go too far from your sister, okay?” Their mother reminds the younger of the two.

“I...won’t...Mom,” the youngest of the siblings, Chaeyoung, puffs out her response as she struggles to put her foot into one of the pairs of her boots. This takes the attention of Jeongyeon who was just doing some stretches on the side while waiting for her sister.

“Here, let me help,” Jeongyeon lunges down to loosen up the laces in order to leave more space for Chaeyoung’s foot to go through and ties the laces after assisting Chaeyoung’s socked foot into it. “There you go!”

“Thank you, Unnie!” Chaeyong smiles cheekily and throws herself into her sister unprepared arms.

“Agh! Chaeyoung!” Unprepared for the weight that pounced on her, she loses her balance and becomes a mess of tangled limbs together with her sister on the ground. She laughs out while engulfing her sister in her embrace, almost wrestling her, “Anytime, Chaeyoung, anytime.”

“Look at you both,” their mother chuckled out and coos at them sentimentally, “I hope you’ll always be this close even when you’re already as old as granny.”

“Yes,” Chaeyoung squeaks out as she buries her head into her unnie’s shoulder, “I’ll always love unnie.”

Jeongyeon tickles Chaeyoung’s sides in response unleashing squeals of affectionate protests from the younger sibling.

“Okay, girls. Enough now before one of you gets hurt,” their mother intervenes while trying to lift Chaeyoung off Jeongyeon. “Are you both ready now?”

“YES!” Both girls answered in unison, gaining an amused smile from their mother.

“Alright, but before you go,” their mother whips out two hand-knitted winter hats from the depths of her long cardigan sweater’s pocket. “Here. I made these for you.”

Jeongyeon’s and Chaeyoung’s eyes twinkle in recognition the moment they caught a glimpse of winter hats’ colors. Sounds of squeals fight over each other while their mother tries her best to placate both children who were trying to get her to place her presents on the crown of their head first.

* * *

“JEONGYEON-UNNIE!!!” Chaeyoung roared with her little voice.

Jeongyeon struggles to breathe through her laughter after she threw a larger than average size snowball at an oblivious Chaeyoung who was peacefully trying to build a snowman. Her open-mouthed laughter was immediately cut short by karma when it was suddenly filled with freezing snow. “BLECH!!!”

“HA! GOT YOU!!!” Chaeyoung impishly stuck her tongue out at her older sister before making a run for it knowing that the latter would no doubt try to get back at her for that.

“THAT’S FOUL! CHAEYOUNG-AH!” She runs after the shorter girl after completely ridding her palate of snow.

* * *

  
  
“CHAEYOUNG!” Jeongyeon pants out when she finally reached the end of winding hedged paths of their gardens .

It has been awhile since she has gone to this part of their garden. Two years since the last time but three since she took a trip through a wormhole and ended up in a distant past. Despite how real the unimaginable events of that Christmas, to Jeongyeon, it was nothing but a memory of a dream tucked into the deepest crevices of her mind that she would think of from time to time when life proves to be a little too simple and dull for Jeongyeon’s adventurous mind.

She did remember telling the girl named Mina that she will visit again.

She tried to the very next day, in fact, despite being practically banned from venturing too deep into their gardens after she was found unconscious on the ground by her parents. They thought she had slipped and hit her head during the fall especially when Jeongyeon tried to tell them that she had time-traveled and met a girl named Mina and was only lucky that she did not end up injured. And so she sneaked away from their supervision and waited by the awkwardly small rock cavity until she was caught by her dad before it even opened a wormhole to Mina’s world.

It became a routine throughout the rest of their remaining stay at their mansion to the point that her parents would take shifts on who was to chase after Jeongyeon. Jeongyeon’s stubbornness to spend time in the deep end of their gardens eventually won in her favor when they finally let her be as long as one of them were there with her.

It did not last long when Jeongyeoon’s excitement for when she could meet Mina again turned into frustration when the rock cavity existed as ordinary as typical geological structures would. Her dad had talked through her upset self about the facts of the event – Jeongyeon stormed out their home and into the gardens when she was told that she could not have a cat; Jeongyeon ended up deep into their gardens; Jeongyeon was found unconscious on the ground after almost half an hour of searching and not a whole afternoon of searching.

“It was only just a dream,” he said.

She did remember vividly that she left Mina’s fantastical world when the sun was shying away from the horizon, and yet she was found unconscious by her parents when the sun was shining at its peak during that same Christmas day.

Maybe her dad was right. After all, how could space and time travel be real? Maybe her head just took a really hard hit.

Jeongyeon resigned to the facts and chucked it all as just another wild dream of hers that she could only wish were a reality.

Even so, on their last day at the country mansion before the holidays ended, Jeongyeon had asked her father to watch the sky lose its colorful hues deep in the gardens in hopes that facts be proven wrong. She would also wait by the rock cavity from time to time the following year when they went back for the holidays, and yet still nothing out of the ordinary.

Two years later, Jeongyeon finds herself standing in the middle of the snow-coated enclosure. With the cold of the winter air already gnawing at her skin, another but different kind of cold began to swell from her heart as her memories from that Christmas day, abandoned as a dream and taken over by everyday follies as she grew up, came rushing back to her.

As insignificant as the amount of hours Jeongyeon had spent with the girl from her dream from not so long ago, the girl named Mina was not. In that daunting dreamland where she found herself lost and alone, Mina was a burst of light that gave color to that strange place – the snow a little less cold as figures of angels carved itself on the snow-covered ground, the stiff air a little less suffocating as they exchange warm laughter, and the sky a little less lifeless as they saw contrasting colors both exist in the same canvas. She stuck by her despite how Jeongyeon was a stranger. Jeongyeon could only wish that Mina could exist, too, in her reality.

The feeling of losing a friend that never was flooded Jeongyeon as the place brought back her memories of Mina. Her fingers electrifies in excitement and innocent hopefulness that maybe Mina could be real beyond make believe, but at the same time, her heart aches with the reality that the magical hole, time travel, and Mina are only as real as Harry, Hermoine, and Ron traveling back in time using the Time Turner to change the future.

Jeongyeon was snapped out of her thoughts and when a strong gust of wind suddenly began to blow. She covers her eyes from the harsh wind and tries to keep the winter hat her mom had knitted for her on top of her head.

“JEONGYEON-UNNIE!” The voice of her younger sister rises above the wind. With her tiny frame, Chaeyoung was struggling to keep herself on foot.

“Chaeyoung!” Jeongyeon runs to her direction, careful not to slip on the ground.

The wind began to calm down and bid its farewell by seizing Chaeyoung’s winter hat as if not wanting to vanish without leaving mischief. “My hat!”

Protective as ever, Jeongyeon puts an arm over Chaeyoung’s shoulder instinctively as she joins Chaeyoung watching her orange winter hat soar a few meters above in the air. Once the wind settles down, the winter hat slowly falls back down on the earth but ends up somewhere very particular.

“Jeongyeon-unnie…” Chaeyoung nervously says. She would run after it if it had not made its way into the small cavern which was dark and a little bit too big and scary for little Chaeyoung’s comfort.

“Oh.” Jeongyeon quietly and absentmindedly lets out after realizing where it had landed as if she had not just been relieving that one eventful Christmas day. It was as if it knew what Jeongyeon was thinking and decided to find a way to get draw her back to it. With Chaeyoung lightly tugging her sleeves to snap her back to reality, she coughs out, “Um…I-I’ll get it for you.”

“Unnie, be careful,” Chaeyoung whispers as she watches Jeongyeon take small steps towards the hole.

Jeongyeon was a little bit afraid, too, if she were to be completely honest.  _ What if it was not a dream after all? What if she finds herself back in Mina’s world again? But what if she never finds her way back to her sister and her family this time? _ These were the thoughts that pervaded through her mind. As much as Jeongyeon wants her adventures with Mina three years ago to be real and to be able to relive it again, she was also scared that she would not be able to find her way back again. Jeongyeon was a little bit afraid but also a little bit of everything.

“Unnie, are you okay?” Chaeyoung asks when Jeongyeon, still deep in her thoughts, stopped and stood in front of the hole a little bit too long. “We could just go back and ask mom to get it for us.”

Jeongyeon snaps back to reality and turns to Chaeyoung giving her a thumbs up and the most confident smile she could muster, “No way! Your unnie got this!”

She had nothing to be excited or afraid of. After all, it was all a dream.

Right?

* * *

The cacophony of all life in the garden and the woods around becomes muzzled as if sucked into a vacuum of emptiness until there was complete silence. Meanwhile, everything physical begins to distort and retreat into the vacuum behind Jeongyeon while everything else in front of her begins to become from a state of nothingness into a growing dot of white light pulling her at what seems to be at a speed of light.

The singing of the woods slowly that just began to reach her ears was immediately replaced by a deafening ring when she cannonballs into something cold. She hits the whiteout ground with a thud, the thick snow cushioning her impact.

**1908, Torana**

"Ow..." Jeongyeon lies deep into the pile of snow once again trying to recover from the unpleasant trip. She felt like throwing up. It took her a minute before she gained back all her senses. Disheveled, she tries to get back her vision by fixing the winter hat that has slipped down past her eyes. What greets her was a pair of familiar eyes that looks so familiar once upon a dream.

“You’re back.”

“Mina.”

“Jeongyeonnie.”

* * *

“You’re not a dream!” Jeongyeon leaps out of the pile in astonishment and excitement. She lets go of Mina’s hand that was used to help her get back on her feet. She pats her down as if to check if she were real and not just a dream before eventually settling to simply cupping her face. “You’re actually real!”

Mina was caught off guard by the hands patting her down, even more when her face was cupped while Jeongyeon stared her down a little bit too close for her comfort. A blush begins to form on her already cold cheeks in embarrassment. But after realizing what Jeongyeon just said, she shakes her head and puffs out her cheek as she gives a huge pout while her eyebrows scrunched together and arms crossed over her chest. “Of course, I’m real! I thought you were never coming back! I was waiting for you...”

When Jeongyeon saw Mina’s eyes soften after her last words, she released her hold on her face in exchange to wrap her in a warm hug. “I’m sorry. I tried to...many times, but I couldn’t. Not until today.”

Hearing the sincerity from Jeongyeon’s voice, Mina felt bad and realized that the girl must have felt as frustrated as her for not only waiting for the next time they meet each other again but also from having the burden of being the one to get to her. Mina’s arms slowly wraps her arms around Jeongyeon and gives her a couple of pats, “...It’s okay. You’re here now.”

They stayed like that almost until both began to feel warm from each other’s embrace. Jeongyeon was first to pull back.

Yes, Jeongyeon was beyond overjoyed to see Mina again and to know that their memories together was all in fact real and not just one extraordinary dream she had thought it was. But of course, Jeongyeon still had a life beyond this surreal world.

She cannot help but worry about leaving Chaeyoung out in the cold. The last time she was here, the only way she could get back to her own world was when the hole began to burn a bright life. Any attempts she made in the morning were all for naught. But if this time would go by the same as what transpired before, she would come back to their garden like she never even left. This laid her worries to ease a bit.

Jeongyeon gives the hole a glance and sighs. “Well, I don’t think I’ll be going back to my time anytime soon. I can tell you more about what happened when I got back, if you want?”

A smile forms on Mina’s face. She grabs Jeongyeon’s hand and pulls her along with her to the direction of her house. “Come! It’s freezing here. I’d be happy to hear all about it inside.”

Jeongyeon happily let Mina drag her along. As long as she’s with Mina, she knows she will be fine just like last time. She will make the most out of this day with her mysterious friend, and, when it’s time to go home, be back as “Jeongyeonnie, the Best Unnie” with Chaeyoung’s Growlithe hat in her hand.

_ Chaeyoung’s Growlithe hat. _ She remembers already having it in her hand when she landed in that pile of snow. She must have left it there when she grabbed Mina’s hand to help her stand back on her feet. There was no way she was getting that Sister of the Year award, or ‘SOTY’ as Chaeyoung abbreviated it on an improvised trophy she awarded her with last year, if she does not come back with it in one piece.

“Mina!” Jeongyeon stops Mina from taking another enthusiastic step towards her house. “You go ahead, I just left something in the pile of snow. I’ll be back quick!”

“Do you need any help?” Mina shouts with her small voice at Jeongyeon who has already dived deep into the snow in a desperate search for the hat.

* * *

“Got you!” Jeongyeon victoriously holds Chaeyoung’s hat up in the air.

She was about to make her way back to Mina when she saw a tall figure hurriedly leaving on a small carriage attached to a horse after hugging Mina. Jeongyeon’s curious eyes follow after the retreating figure before making her way back to Mina who was already by the porch.

“Who was that?” Jeongyeon asks.

“Oh, that was my sister, Nayeon-unnie.” Mina proudly answers.

“Right! You have a sister,” Jeongyeon recalls Mina telling her about a sister when she gave her a melon pan the first time she invited her to her house. “Where was she going in such a hurry?”

“We usually have some  _ patjuk _ for Christmas, and well, she sort of forgot to buy the ingredients. That’s Nayeon-unnie. She’s the best but a little careless sometimes, although it’s probably because she’s been so busy at work lately.” Mina scratches the back of her head and begins to chuckle before she notices the orange hat Jeongyeon was not holding. “What’s that?”

“Oh, this is Chaeyoung’s hat! That was the reason why I ended up here.” Jeongyeon holds it in full view for Mina to see. “It was flown away by the wind into the same hole that got me here last time. I thought the hole wouldn’t bring me back like the many times I tried to before, so I tried to bring it back to her, and well...here I am.”

“Chaeyoung?” Mina asks.

“She’s my younger sister,” Jeongyeon chuckles out as she fondly thinks of her sister who looks a little bit just like the winter hat their mother made for her. “Anyway, remember Pokémon? This is Growlithe, a Pokémon.”

Mina’s eyebrows rose as she tried to recall what exactly Pokémon is from her conversation with Jeongyeon the last time they met each other. Not having too many memories with Jeongyeon to begin with, it was not too difficult to sort through everything they did and talked about.

Mina remembers and would recount that one Christmas day every time she misses Jeongyeon despite how little time they really spent with each other.

“Of course! When you said I was your friend,” Mina smiles widely at Jeongyeon

“Oh,” Jeongyeon blushes with Mina’s answer. She did not expect the girl to even remember Pokémon, especially not that.

Truth be told, Jeongyeon did not remember that bit. Having been deluded into thinking that it had all just been a dream, similar to all dreams and nightmares, her brain had treated it as such and only took in significant moments. Of course, Jeongyeon remembered more from her time with Mina than she typically would with her usual dreams, but she still had a hard time recounting the little details. Despite her predicament, Jeongyeon knew that her time with Mina and what she felt that day were special. It warmed Jeongyeon’s heart that Mina remembered something like that after so long.

“Um....well, this is Growlithe and this one on me is Bulbasaur! Growlithe is Chaeyoung’s favorite Poké mon and this is mine. Our mom made it for us.”

They seem odd in Mina’s eyes given that she has never seen something like that in her life, nevertheless, she still found them cute in their own ways. “It’s charming.”

“Charming, heh…It is, isn’t it?” Jeongyeon chuckles at Mina’s choice of words when most would simply describe Pokémons cute if not cool.

Mina was truly unique.

* * *

Mina had barely taken a step into her abode when a small elongated dog with golden fur ran to her direction and began to paw at her leg. “Ray!”

“No way…” Jeongyeon slowly walks to Mina’s side to have a full view of the dog. “This dog…”

“Jeongyeonnie...this is...Ray-chan,” Mina breathlessly laughs as she tries to get Ray to calm down and carry him into her arms, “Nayeon-unnie found him on her way home that last time you were here.”

The dog, Ray, took notice of Jeongyeon and reached over to take a sniff of her.

Jeongyeon came face to face with Ray’s long snout and a perfect set of puppy dog eyes. The dog has obviously grown, but she cannot be mistaken. This was the same puppy that she chased after that got here in the first place. “Mina, Ray is–Ah!”

Jeongyeon was not able to finish her sentence when Ray began licking her face all over. Both recognized each other the same time, as if on cue.

Mina chuckles as she lets Ray have his fun but also as a way to tease Jeongyeon. This was payback for letting her wait all these years. Mina pulls her dog away from Jeongyeon after realizing the girl was enjoying the payback either way and seeing that the girl probably has enough of Ray’s wet kisses. “Looks like he really likes you.”

“This is really amazing,” Jeongyeon says incredulously.

“What is?” Mina asks. “Ray-chan?”

Jeongyeon and Mina were already on the floor playing with Ray. “Well, yes, but you won’t believe me when I tell you...Ray is what led me to you.”

“What do you m-,” Mina pauses in realization, “You mean that puppy that you chased after?”

“Exactly!” Jeongyeon rubs circles on Ray’s belly causing the dog to squirm and begins to talk to him in a higher pitch than her usual tone. “So you did end up traveling in time with me. Have you been looking out after Mina and her unnie well, Ray-chan?”

* * *

After spending most of the afternoon playing with Ray and exhausting themselves, Mina and Jeongyeon lay on the younger girl’s bed where Jeongyeon finally tells Mina what happened to her after she got back to her time and the many times her attempts to visit her again failed.

“So it’s like time never passed?” Mina asks.

“Yep,” Jeongyeon arms rest in between the bed and her head as she stares at the ceiling. “And aside from the fact that I couldn’t go back, I was unconscious for a few minutes after coming back. Time traveling itself is something pretty hard to believe, so I thought everything had been a dream.”

“Oh…” Mina processes everything Jeongyeon told her.

As long silence begins to fill the room, Jeongyeon quietly whispers for Mina, “Mina?”

“Hm?”

“How can I be sure that this isn’t all a dream?” Jeongyeon quietly whispers. “Are you a dream?”

Mina rises up from her bed with a frown forming on her face. “I already told you, I’m real.”

Jeongyeon rises up from her position to match the other girl’s level. With the same frown on her face, she lays her hand on top of Mina’s on the bed. “Listen, Mina. I want you to be real, too, but how can I be sure that everything today isn’t just a dream, a continuation of my time with you before?”

“I’m sure.” Mina firmly says with sadness in her eyes. Mina was sure she did not dream painfully waiting for a friend to come back for the past years. The ache in her heart every time Mina hoped she would see Jeongyeon again only to be met with nothing was very real. “...And the pile of snow. I always ask for Nayeon-unnie’s help to pile something soft in front of the hole just in case you’d come back. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

Jeongyeon feels bad doubting whether Mina was real or not, so she takes Mina’s figure into her embrace. “I’m sorry.”

“Jeongyeonnie,” Mina’s eyes widened when Jeongyeon’s actions caught her off guard. Mina’s heart begins to race at an uncomfortable pace and heat begins to feel her cheeks. She feels dizzy...different.

_ Am I coming up with a fever? That’s it. I’m just sick. _

Mina quickly pulls herself off from Jeongyeon’s arms. She needs some air, some space from Jeongyeon.

“What’s wrong?” Jeongyeon looks at her worriedly. “Your cheeks are a little red...are you sick?”

“No,” Mina is quick on her feet and was off the bed before Jeongyeon could even lay a hand on her forehead to check on her temperature. “I-I-Ah! Wait here.”

“I’m not sure,” Jeongyeon follows behind Mina anyway afraid that the girl might suddenly collapse if she were really in fact sick. “You look pretty dazed back there.”

“Was not!” Mina rebuts, embarrassed that Jeongyeon noticed. “Anyway, just stay here. I’m going inside my sister’s room.”

“Whatever you say,” Jeongyeon sings and chuckles at the way Mina’s cheeks puffed up while insisting that she was okay. She stands in front of the door as she watches Mina make her way to her sister’s desk which was under a variety of sketches of shoes and a few dresses hanging on board. Nayeon’s room was a messier compared to Mina’s, but it was evident that Mina was not lying when she said that her sister has been preoccupied with work lately based on the state of things. “Mina, what are you looking for?”

“Nayeon-unnie’s fountain pen,” Mina answers as she rummages through the piles of paper spread on top of the table. She opens a drawer and finds it resting in between different balls of threads. “A-ha!”

“What’s it for?” Jeongyeon asks once Mina finally leaves and closes the door of the room behind her.

“Give me your hand,” Mina instructs the older girl.

Without any more questions, Jeongyeon does what she was told and lays her hand on top of Mina’s open palm.

The action quickly sends phantom shocks on Mina’s hand. She pulls her hand back but decides against it or else she will be teased by Jeongyeon again. She tightens her hold on Jeongyeon’s hand instead before pulling the sleeves up exposing the older girl’s wrist. She quickly finishes a drawing of a cartoonish penguin on it before the tingling sensation on her hands gets worse. She sighs out, “There.”

“What’s this?” Jeongyeon studies the younger girl’s drawing. “A penguin?”

“Yes!” Mina smiles at her masterpiece. “When you get back and you fall unconscious again, just look at your wrist. If you see Minguin on it-”

“Minguin?” Jeongyeon asks confused.

“Yes, Minguin. That’s Minguin,” Mina introduced Jeongyeon to the penguin she drew. “Anyway, just look at your wrist once you get back. If you see Minguin on it, then everything wasn’t a dream. I’m real.”

“Woah. Mina, you’re a genius!” Amazed by Mina’s thinking skills, Jeongyeon happily gently tackles her into another hug.

_ There was just no escaping Jeongyeon. _

* * *

“So let’s go over the details.” Mina begins. “You tried to transport yourself back here a lot of times and the only time it worked was today, Christmas, just like before.”

They had moved over to the dining table as they tried to figure out their extraordinary predicament.

“Yup!” Jeongyeon affirms. “I could try using the hole again every now and then, or at least, while my family and I are staying over our home there, but definitely Christmas.”

Jeongyeon’s resolute words give hope to Mina that this time would be different. She will not be met by nothing and how it fills her heart with an unknown ache each time she watches by the window for any signs of Jeongyeon.

“It might take me awhile, but I’ll come back to you, Mina.” Jeongyeon gives her a thumbs up. “We’ll see each other again next time. Anyway, when is your sister supposed to be back? It’s been a couple of hours.”

She turns to take a glimpse at the clock, and her eyes widen when she realizes the time. Jeongyeon’s company had kept her preoccupied all the time that she did not notice how quick the time flew by. “The market isn’t too far from here. She’s supposed to be back around an hour ago.”

* * *

An hour or two flew by and Mina’s only became more worried for her sister. Both girls sat by on the porch waiting for any signs of Mina’s sister. They both could comfortably wait inside the wooden comfort of Mina’s home, but if it would help ease Mina agitation, Jeongyeon accompanied Mina outside trying to give her comfort the same way she did last time.

“Jeongyeonnie…”

“Mina?”

“What if something happened to Nayeon-unnie?” Mina's already small voice sounded even smaller, almost too fragile.

“Hey, Mina...I’m sure she was just held back by...traffic-no, not traffic.” It broke Jeongyeon’s heart to hear Mina speak so sad. She wishes she could lay Mina’s worries to ease just like the girl did for her countless times. “Wait, do horse carriages cause traffic?”

But Mina was too deep into her anxious thoughts and memories of her past to really hear the other girl. Mina finally breaks into sobs, “I...I can’t lose Nayeon-unnie, too. She’s all I have.”

“What do you mean?”

Under the uncaring sky where clouds listlessly flies over them as it tries to escape the darkness taking over, Mina recounts to Jeongyeon the grim events that she and her sister were welcomed to their parents’ home. Mina knew her sister was strong but Mina knew just how the world really is and it spares no one from its cruelty.

Jeongyeon and Mina might as well have been two figures in a snow globe as they sat motionless by the porch under the falling snow. Jeongyeon’s arm rests over the smaller girl’s shoulder, and her free hand rubs comforting circles on Mina’s hand. Meanwhile, Mina rests her head on the older girl’s shoulder as she tries to even out her breathings after tearfully revealing her own grief and woes.

“Mina,” Jeongyeon breaks the silence between them. “Just so you know, you have me now, too, I promise.”

They were small compared to the world around them, but at that moment, Mina felt at ease.

Like a bubble bursting in thin air, their fleeting moment of tranquility is rattled by Ray’s barking.

“Ray-chan, what is it?” Mina is up on her feet looking for any signs of her sister but is instead met by the hole glowing the same rays of lights that Jeongyeon disappeared into last time.

“Jeongyeonnie…” Mina whispers. She hesitates but takes Jeongyeon’s hand into her own before running to the front of the hole.

Unlike last time, Jeongyeon was a lot more hesitant going back to her time. She was not scared of whatever might happen to her if she goes into that light again. She knows that she would be alright. What she was afraid of was realizing that it would all be a dream, and she does not have it in her to leave Mina all alone like this. At least, not until Nayeon comes back. Especially, not when she just promised her friend that she has her now.

“Jeongyeonnie,” Mina’s eyebrows scrunched in worry by Jeongyeon’s lack of response at finally being able to go home. “What’s wrong?”

Jeongyeon turns to Mina and holds her hand even tighter, “What about you?”

Mina eyes widen. “But you have to go back home!”

“I-I know, but I can’t just leave you alone here.” Jeongyeon insists.

“Jeongyeonnie…” They had fun, and Mina would want nothing more to spend more time with Jeongyeon, but she knew it would not be right to keep Jeongyeon all to herself, especially not when Jeongyeon has her own sister in her own reality.

“I could just stay here until the next time I can go back again. I got home last time like no time really passed, remember?” Yes, maybe it would not really matter if Jeongyeon were to wait for the next opportunity to go back and be here with her instead, since time in Jeongyeon’s world seems to stop like it was waiting for her to come back. Her little sister, Chaeyoung would not even realize Jeongyeon was gone.

But Mina could not be sure if that were to be the case again. And in one way or another, Jeongyeon was just like her. Eventually, she would be missing her own family. There was no telling how long again will the hole be glowing again to bring her back home.

The light behind them glowed a little less brighter than it did last time.

Mina forces a smile and hopes that Jeongyeon would not see through her facade, “I-I’ll be fine. It’s like what you said, maybe Nayeon-unnie was just stuck in some...some traffic. Jeongyeonnie, you have to go.”

“But...I promised you,” whispers Jeongyeon. The light behind getting dimmer and dimmer each second.

“Just promise me that you’ll come back.”

“MIN-”

* * *

**2008, Torana**

_ Mina… _ It was the last thing Jeongyeon thinks of before she falls on the snow-covered ground. Jeongyeon was so exhausted. Each cell in her body felt like it were fighting each other to death. She did not feel any pain much like being pricked by a sharp needle, and yet everything still hurts. Her body felt like it was giving up on her. Maybe if she could just take a nap.

“UNNIE! UNNIE!” The voice calling out to her grew louder and louder, and she felt her back being supported up before someone started to shake her back to consciousness. “JEONGYEON-UNNIE, WAKE UP!’

A slap.

“OW!” Jeongyeon's eyes snapped open and was met by Chaeyoung’s worried ones. The stinging pain on her cheeks was enough to distract her senses from feeling the exhaustion taking over her body. “Can’t you let me go back to sleep? I was still dreaming about Mi-MINA!”

_Mina._ _Was it all just a dream again? No, it can’t be...MINGUIN!_

Jeongyeon pulls the sleeves of her coat up and sees the penguin Mina had drawn on her wrist. She was beyond relieved and overjoyed to know that everything was not just a dream that tears began to form in her eyes.

_ Mina is real. But she's… _

Jeongyeon tries to stand on her feet but struggles to regain her balance with her body still feeling too exhausted. She half-drags herself to the entrance of the hole and rests her hand on the wall. She wants to go back and be there for Mina but knew it would be useless without the light if it were really the only way to go back. The only thing she could do now is to carry out Mina’s last words to her before she had been sucked back in by the light.

_ I promise I’ll come back to you, Mina. _

“Unnie, where did you go? Who’s Mina? Are you okay?” Chaeyoung tackled Jeongyeon back to the ground in a hug and began to cry. She was baffled by everything that just happened in the past few minutes.

_ Did Chaeyoung see me disappear? I thought time would stop whenever I disappeared. _

Jeongyeon sits both her and Chaeyoung up and tries to calm her sister down by reassuring her, “I’m alright. I’m here now. Are you okay?”

“Unnie, I...you were suddenly gone when a light suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the dark cave...I didn’t know what to do. I thought you were...never gonna come back. I was gonna call mom and dad for help...but it wasn’t even a minute when it threw you out again before it disappeared.” Chaeyoung chokes out.

“Chaeyoung, I’m here now.” Jeongyeon’s soft voice tries to get through a sobbing Chaeyoung. She feels bad seeing her sister in a state of distraught especially out of concern for her.

Once Chaeyoung finally began to calm down, Jeongyeon pulled out the winter hat that had started all of this from her coat pocket. “Here, your Growlithe hat. Am I your sister of the year now?”

Chaeyoung who was still seated on Jeongyeon’s lap just frowned when she saw the orange hat. She bumps her forehead on her sister’s shoulder and ignores the hat, “Stupid...you will always be the best unnie.” 

* * *

**1908, Torana**

Mina was sitting on the coach with Ray on her lap when the door suddenly slammed open.

“MINA!”

“Nayeong-unnie!” Mina gently let Ray down and ran to her sister enveloping her in a hug. She tries to hold her tears from showing and instead hides it with a frown, “I was worried something happened to you!”

“Mina, I’m so sorry. I was supposed to be back home hours earlier, but the man I bought our ingredients from wanted to get some orphans arrested for stealing from him.” Nayeon hugs Mina as she apologizes. She loves Mina so much but feels like she always fails as an older sister to Mina just like today. She could not look Mina in the eyes. “I had to help them out...I took them to our old home where they could-”

Nayeon never gets to finish her explanation when Mina pushes away from the hug and looks her in the eyes. Mina wipes the tears that Nayeon had not even realized were falling. “It’s alright, Unnie.”

That’s just how her sister was ever since they had been living in the orphanage. Despite how Nayeon acted on the outside, Mina knew that her sister would go out of her way to help out other people in need no matter how much it would inconvenience her. She wishes that Nayeon would do something for herself sometimes instead of just focusing on her. In a way, she was glad that Nayeon had gone and helped out those children over turning a blind eye to get home to Mina early. It would just go against her sister’s nature to do so.

“I’m just glad you’re home, Unnie.” Mina smiles at her sisters and gives her a kiss on the cheek before hugging her.

Despite how Nayeon may feel about failing her younger sister, Mina sees through her and only loves her even more. After all, it was because of Nayeon where Mina had learned to be selfless.

**Author's Note:**

> Wanna sue me? I'm on Twitter at @dubutheeagle and on CuriousCat at @EphemeralSpring.
> 
> Any comment, suggestion, or constructive criticism would help improve my writing. :)


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